Nine people, one Hoover, apply for open school board seat

The Iowa City Community School Board received a pile of applications for its vacant seat, which could be filled as soon as next week.

Nine people submitted applications ahead of Monday afternoon's deadline, including two former school board members, three people who lost in the last board election and one former Coralville City Council member.

The applicants are Ron Conner, Karla Cook, Phil Hemingway, Jason Lewis, Angela Pitkin, Brian Richman, Thomas Simmons, Orville Townsend Sr. and John Weihe. A 10th application was submitted in the name of Herbert Hoover, the U.S. president for whom an eastside Iowa City elementary slated for eventual closure is named.

The board will discuss appointing a new member, who will fill a seat that runs through 2015, at a meeting next Monday. Former board President Sally Hoelscher resigned last month citing personal reasons.

Out of the nine applicants, five applicants said they do not plan to run in the next school board election, while four applicants said they aren't sure if they will run. Connor, Cook, Pitkin, Townsend and Weihe indicated on their applications that they do not plan to run, and Hemingway, Lewis, Richman and Simmons indicated that they aren't sure.

Some School Board member have said they have concerns about how appointing a candidate who plans to run in the 2015 election could affect that election.

Hemingway, Cook and Lewis all ran unsuccessfully for the board last fall, finishing fourth, fifth and seventh out of nine candidates. The top three vote-getters won seats. Cook was elected to a two-year term in 2011 after another board member's resignation, but her re-election bid fell short in 2013.

Hemingway narrowly missed winning a School Board seat in each of the past two elections but has been a fixture in the audience and at the podium during board meetings. The Iowa City resident said the issues he ran on last year — transparency, spending and enhancing the district's technical curriculum — haven't gone away.

"All of the issues that were important to me when I ran are still issues today," said Hemingway, who owns an auto and truck repair business.

Lewis, an Iowa City resident and member of the PTO at Twain Elementary, said he would like to help the district take on the the challenges of implementing the diversity policy and its facilities plan, which he described as two ambitious efforts.

"I want to be a successful partner in that discussion," said Lewis, who is the director of the writing and humanities program at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Townsend, who served on the School Board for one term from 1986-89, said he was interested in serving again to help build bridges and improve communication between the district and community. If appointed, the Iowa City resident said he would like to help the district tackle issues such as the diversity policy and the behavioral problems in classrooms.

"I think basically we are a community in transition, and I think we've been struggling quite a bit, and I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel," said Townsend, a retired rehabilitation supervisor at the Iowa City branch of Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation.

Weihe, who served on the Coralville City Council for 16 years, said he hopes to put his proven skills as a consensus builder to work for the School Board. Weihe said his youngest son is a junior in high school, meaning future planning discussions wouldn't have a direct impact on his family, allowing him to bring an objective perspective to the board.

"Since there can't be an election, it would be important to have someone who could work as a team player on the board," said Weihe, an optometrist and City High graduate.

Several of the applicants did not have listed phone numbers or could not immediately be reached for comment after the names were released Monday. Each made their case to the board in their applications, however.

Cook is an Iowa City resident who worked as a teacher in the district for 23 years and, in that time, served on numerous committees, including representing fellow teachers in contract negotiations. Cook said that as a recent School Board member, she's already familiar with the issues, the system and the governing rules.

"My only goal is to work to provide each student with the opportunity for the best education for him/her," Cook wrote in her application.

Conner is a retired North Liberty resident who has worked for the district as a substitute paraeducator. In his application, Conner said he had participated in the redistricting meetings and diversity policy discussions the past three years and understands the importance of getting the boundaries right.

"Kids do better when they are exposed to this diversity," Conner wrote in his application. "But I am a business man, and I do not want to see excess busing because of the expense involved. We need common-sense solutions and compromise between different sides."

According to her application, Pitkin, a Coralville resident, has a Ph.D. in educational measurement and statistics at U, and worked for the university for several years as an assistant director of evaluation and examination service. She also has worked as an adjunct faculty member at UI, teaching statistics.

"I believe I can be an asset to the Board of Education with my knowledge of the current issues before the Board, my professional and educational experiences, and my open-mindedness towards any and all possible solutions for the issues currently facing the Board," Pitkin wrote.

Richman, a former chairman of Iowa City's Planning and Community Development Commission and the director of UI's Hawkinson Institute of Business Finance, is a parent of two children at Hoover Elementary. He said his experience leading that city commission, coupled with his background investment banking, would be a benefit to the board.

"I would welcome the opportunity to apply my skills and knowledge on behalf of the District and to work with the other Board of Education members to advance the vital goals we have established for the children of our community," Richman wrote in his application.

Simmons, an Iowa City resident associate professor of English at UI, said in his application that although his past involvement with the ICCSD has been limited, that might not be a bad thing given redistricting and other issues have "generated intense heat without much light."

Simmons said through his work with the Faculty Assembly at UI, of which he's the chair-elect, he's become "familiar with a variety of management practices and have always worked to resolve conflicts between individuals of differing philosophies."

The only application from a non-living party was supposedly from "Herbert C. Hoover," the West Branch native and 31st president. The applicant, identifying himself as the man for whom the local elementary was named, filled out the paperwork with quotes from the former president.

"Being a politician is a poor profession," the applicant wrote. "Being a public servant is a noble one. This is not a showman's job. I will not step out of character."